


Young Hearts Beat Faster

by VaporWaveFan



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cobra Personalities from the Original Movie, F/M, Johnny is a good dad to Robby, New Cobras, OC, Season 2 Cobra Kai
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2019-06-23 08:50:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15602739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VaporWaveFan/pseuds/VaporWaveFan
Summary: Johnny's been wondering how everything got so crazy. He guesses it all just started with him.





	Young Hearts Beat Faster

 

Chapter One: The Best of Both Worlds...is an Overrated Song

..

Training in Karate was tough. Training in the toughest dojo in the Valley was tougher. Training in the toughest dojo in a solo lesson every night for the past few months was tougher than everything a poor teenage boy named David could even imagine.

His friends at school often compared his physique to that of nerdy Demitri. With brown hair and eyes, a kind freckled face and tall stature, David could probably tell you which manga was made by which mangaka in which style and which each meant before you could blink.

Johnny sighed at David's strike, "That crap snapback is making me wanna puke. Again!" he yelled.

"Yes Sensei!" David flew into another roundhouse and the dummy's head whipped back.

He completely ignored how David was panting and covered in sweat, "Ach...sorry. Take a quick break."

"Yes Sensei!"

Johnny groaned as he sat back down on a chair off the mat as David stretched and caught his breath, "Everything all right Sensei?" the teen wondered.

The blonde man sighed, "You're not my damned psychologist, you're here to train."

"Yes Sensei!"

Johnny shook his head, he was lying to himself if he didn't miss having actual conversations with people (much less his own students) that didn't regard karate, "Yeah...there is something that's been messing with me."

"What?" David cleared his throat into a deeper tone, "What?"

"There's this guy who comes in during the day classes, he came in here and beat my ass before you arrived after the tournament. He used to be my Sensei, the guy who made Cobra Kai. That er..guy you mentioned who you said your mom said his name? Bobby? That was one of his first students."

David nodded as Johnny spoke from his chair, "Anyway...he's not letting me teach my students the way I want to. No cheating or any of that bullshit...but Kreese, this guy...he won't hear it...I'm not afraid that if I speak out in front of him he'll hurt me..." Johnny sighed in disgust of himself as he held his head in his hands, "I'm afraid..." he looked up at David, "That he'll hurt you guys, my students. He's already reached Hawk...and then he'll reach all of them. And then they won't be my kids anymore, they'll be his."

"Well..." David swung his hands back awkwardly and sighed as well on the mat, "As long as we're opening up I gotta confess." He held his hands behind his head, "During the day I've been training at Mr. LaRusso's the past few months I've been with you...I need to get as much Karate as I can now that everyone's doing it...and he seemed like the easiest option as he lives right across the street from me."

Johnny looked up at him, making David sweat nervously, before looking back down.

"What?...you're not angry?"

Johnny shook his head, "Disappointed you didn't tell me." He stood up with a groan and stepped back on his mat, "I want you to promise me something kid. You won't listen to LaRusso...or Kreese...you'll only listen to yourself."

David raised an eyebrow, "Not you?"

"I may be your teacher, but that's not what I want Cobra Kai to be about. Cobra Kai is what you define it is, it's about bringing yourself up, not bringing others down. And I'm really glad I can train you without Kreese knowing, it let's me say that without him behind me."

David nodded, "Thanks Sensei."

Johnny put his hand on David's shoulder, "You got a lot to learn. The only thing I want from you is to leave everything LaRusso taught you at the door."

"That's it Sensei?"

"Say what you will about him, but he did beat me...don't want to pat myself on the back...but I did lose I'll admit it."

David nodded as Johnny checked the dojo's clock, "It's getting late. Make sure no one sees you on your way out kid."

"Yes Sensei." David bowed off the mat and put his shoes back on, as he stood up with his car keys readied, he spoke out to his blonde karate teacher, "Hey Sensei?"

"Yeah?" Johnny looked at the only student he had complete control over.

David smiled, "You and Mr. LaRusso got a lot more in common than you think. The only difference is his legacy is dead, and yours is right next to you."

"You've got talent." Johnny pressed his lips together in thought, "But still you got a lot to learn. And the first thing you gotta learn is that you're special. Every other kid's got to do their training out in the open, choosing sides, but you got your own choices. Don't ever lose that kid."

"Thanks Sensei." David left. In his silver Mazda his mother bought him, he started texting his friend.

_Hey Mig. Heading out to your place. Got the carna asda ready?_

A grumbled response soon came.

_It's carne asada, damn dude._

David smiled down at his phone.

_Whatever man, on my way._

As David started driving around Reseda towards Miguel's house, he looked around seeing all the graffiti and homelessness. He sighed, how the hell could his shiny new car straight from LaRusso auto dealership not stand out like a sore thumb?

He rubbed his temples, "Tribalism...and I wonder why the world went to hell."

David knocked on the door to the Diaz household and Carmen waved him in with a smile, "Hello there David, how're you doing?"

"Great Ms. Diaz, thanks for having me over for dinner." David nodded as he walked in.

Miguel smiled as he pulled up a seat next to him where David sat down, "Hey man thanks for having me over."

"Lavanse las manos." Miguel's yaya demanded as she knitted.

"Come on." Miguel threw his head towards the bathroom and David followed him. As Miguel washed his hands, David muttered to him.

"Listen man about Tory-"

"Yeah yeah, you want me to date Sam. Heard it about a dozen times." Miguel rolled his eyes.

David shook his head, "My uh...mom...she wants custody but..."

Miguel looked at him, "Why're you telling me this?"

"Because Tory's is my half sister...and I think you deserve better than her."

Miguel blinked, "W-Wait...half sister?...who's your mom?"

"Doesn't matter...the point is...you're a nice guy, and you're letting-"

"You don't know me."

David bit his lip, "That's what I'm talking about Mig, you think Aisha never talked to me about what you were like before I met you?"

"So what, you think you know me?" Miguel pushed David back, "Are you just messing with me? You've known me since summer man. Don't start with this deep shit."

"Mig...I'm just here for you man." David put his hands on his own chest as if to say, 'hey!'

He walked off to join his family at the dinner table and David washed his hands. After thanking Carmen for the excellent food she made, David left with a bitter taste in his mouth. On his drive back home, he just wondered, "Is Sensei the only person who listens!?"

Ali watched her own son come through the door, "You're late."

"Sorry ma." David mumbled as she kissed him on the forehead, "Reseda's a bit of a drive."

"How was dinner with the Diaz's?" the surgeon wondered.

He shook his head, "Mom how do you get people to stop fighting?"

"Sorry honey?" Ali brushed her yellow hair back.

"Ever since I started school it's been Miyagi-Do this, Cobra Kai that...and it's all for this stupid petty Karate rivalry...why won't people listen to reason?... It's like everyone's picking sides and I'm outcast for being right in the middle!"

Ali smiled at her son, "Dave...I was in your exact position when I was your age. Boys will be boys, they'll fight, one'll win, and then they'll move on."

David shook his head in the doorway of his home, "Mom...it's not just the guys, the girls are fighting too! Everyone's gone bananas!"

She pushed her son slightly towards his bedroom upstairs, "Remember, if it's not your fight..."

"Then don't fight..." David muttered under his breath as he walked upstairs.

In his bed he rolled through Snapchat checking his friends' stories, he found Hawk's and it was a selfie of him shirtless with his arm wrapped over the shoulder of Kreese. The tag was 'Just had a great training sesh with Sensei Kreese. Dude just learned what a selfie is lol, he's awesome!'

They were in an MMA type room and David squinted as Kreese's smile. He huffed in some air, dreading school the next day. Everyone was so divided and angry, and he knew he was new to Encino High School but why? Why was everyone angry?

He just imagined himself standing in between two sides, wanting everyone to hug it out while being stampeded completely.

Sam knocked on his bedroom window with a smile holding two soda cans and David smiled. He got out of bed and joined her on the rooftop.

"Hey what's up?" David joined his neighbor as he sipped his cola.

"Not much." The girl admitted, "Dad managed to get Anthony to join Miyagi-Do."

"Really?"

"No..." Sam laughed and David joined her, "So...what's new with you?"

David sighed in exhaustion, "I need you to tell me...I need you to tell me everything. Everything that happened before I moved here in the summer."

Sam nodded as she put her soda down, "I'm guessing you're tired of hearing biased stories huh?"

"Yeah. Really tired." David admitted.

"Okay...so last year I was dating this guy named Kyler...I thought he was nice. I had no idea he was a total creep and a bully."

She remembered when they went out to the movies and he tried to touch her. She pinned him back to his seat and moved away. Memories of Miguel in the science classroom with her flooded back into her mind. The bannana in her purse, the jokes, and Sam was laughing with Miguel again.

"Kyler turned out to be a real asshole but then Miguel started talking to me. He was..." Sam brushed her brown bangs aside and shook her head, "Really smart and funny and cute...and then we started dating..."

_'And that was definitely not a kiss...' Sam said on Miguel's chest after she kissed him._

Samantha kept talking, "I never felt like I had connected with someone as well as I had with him...then there was this party...and I brought my friend Robby with me...Miguel was drunk, and thought we were together and punched me in the face on accident."

_'Who's this guy?' Miguel asked angrily._

_'This is Robby, he works for my dad...' Sam explained._

_'Oh, your dad!...oh ok that makes a lotta sense.' Miguel was trying to hide how drunk he was to no avail._

_'What is that supposed to mean?...' Sam looked at him, 'Wait have you been drinking?'_

_He went in to hit Robby and-_

_'My dad was right about Cobra Kai...good luck at the tournament!'_

She looked up at the stars from the Schwarber household's rooftop, "That's when he started acting differently. He was angrier, more abrasive...almost like I'd met a different person completely..."

Sam raised both her eyebrows, "That's when the tournament happened. Robby and Miguel were cruising through beating everyone."

The cheers and strikes of the tournament flashed in her mind, Miguel was doing great and so was Miguel.

"They were in the finals together, everyone was cheery, my brother wanted to stay to watch the great and epic finale of the return of the great dojos! And..."

David couldn't be more into the story, "And then what?"

Sam put her arms on her knees, "Miguel cheated...he hurt Robby's arm." She looked at David with tears in her eyes, "He hurt Robby...without ever speaking a word to him. All out of jealousy to me. Don't ever change David...you don't ever stay who you are when you're someone else."

Sam hugged David and he hugged her back. David shed a few tears with her, who in their right mind would break this poor girl's heart? Even if it took all the Karate training in the world, Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do, LaRusso and Lawrence alike, all the kind words all the wisdom all the patience...he'd bring peace back to All Valley with the help of Sam.

He looked up to the stars as Sam hugged him, wondering where Tory'd be sleeping that night. He honestly hoped his family could be whole once more.

...

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Yeah so I decided to rewrite this story of mine! Thanks for reading!


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